News in brief: Oct. 7, 2009

WestJet co-founder hailed

Wilfrid Laurier University will award Clive Beddoe, the co-founder of WestJet Airlines, an honorary doctor of law degree at the university’s fall convocation on Friday, Oct. 30.

Beddoe is the current chair of WestJet’s board of directors; he co-founded the company in 1996. He was also the recipient of Laurier’s Outstanding Business Leader award in 2002. Beddoe will be addressing the graduates of Laurier’s school of business and economics at the ceremony, which begins at 10 a.m. at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex.

-Compiled by Lori Graham

ICT report release delayed

Since April, a review has been underway at Laurier relating to the information communication technology (ICT) available on campus, both within Laurier’s Information Technology Services and outside of it, with systems such as ResNet.

A final report has been put together based on the first stage of this review; it is an assessment of what is available here and how it compares to other institutions. Assistant vice-president of academic services Tom Buckley explains that the report will be publically released within the next week to 10 days.

This release date was originally scheduled to be in the middle of September but was delayed in order to make time for all involved in the process to review the recommendations after returning from vacation during the summer. The second phase will delve more deeply into what has been recommended by the initial review and will work towards implementing these ideas at Laurier. For example, they will look at the overall management model for ICT, the equipment that the university has and the current service levels.

“The next eight weeks is going to be about planning for the next five to 10 years strategically for ICT,” said Buckley.

-Andrea Millet

Foot Patrol hours extended

Due to requests for increased safety after the Albert Street incident where a woman was attacked in the early morning, Foot Patrol will be extending hours to have a walking team from 6 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. in order to accommodate students who have early morning class.

Foot Patrol co-ordinator Katie Campbell explained that the business office approached WLUSU and asked if they would be willing to extend their hours.

“They asked if we wouldn’t mind being opened … because we offer walks home from night classes, but were not offering anything in the morning,” said Campbell. This year more Foot volunteers were hired to accommodate the increase in hours.

“I think that if we make sure that everybody knows … [and] people start realizing that it’s a really good opportunity for them to get to class safely, then they’ll start using it,” said vice-president of services for the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union Odette Ansell.

A 6 a.m. van pick-up is available for students living more than 2 kilometres away from campus. Walks can be booked the night before as well as the day of; but the van is on a first come – first serve basis.

-Idil Herzi